Behind Dell’s missing kiosk in downtown SF

Regular visitors to the Westfield San Francisco Centre on Market Street probably have noticed a change: The kiosk where people could check out and buy Dell computers and TVs is gone.

Is Dell pulling back from the kiosk strategy it launched six years ago to complement its vaunted direct-sales business model?

Not exactly, said spokesman Mike Maher. He confirmed that the Round Rock, Texas, computing company has “closed a handful of the 190 kiosks in the U.S. for any number of reasons.” Some of the stores were “not performing as well as we want them to.”

The kiosk in San Jose (shown above) is still open for business.

But that does not mean Dell is giving up on retail channels. In fact, Maher said, the kiosks have been so successful that Dell has begun opening retail stores, similar to the ones run by Apple Inc.

Dell’s first store opened last year in Dallas, and two more stores will open in Manhattan and Austin this year, he said.

Some analysts have said that Dell has fallen behind rival Hewlett-Packard partly because the Texas company has relied too heavily on selling computers directly to buyers.

Maher disputed that view.

“We do recognize that there is a percentage of customers who want to see the product and talk to somebody,” he said. “It’s also fair to balance that out — that direct is as viable as it has ever been.”